Case studyWebsite and redesignlocalefoodandrooms.it
LocAle Food and Rooms
First website in 2024, redesign in 2026: now LocAle takes bookings in three languages.
LocAle is a restaurant with a Lounge Bar and two rooms in the old town of Pietralunga, in the hills of northern Umbria. In 2024 we built its first website; in 2026 we rebuilt it from scratch, because the place had grown and the website no longer told its story.
LocAle has worked with us since 2024. The first website did its job for more than two years; the redesign grew out of what those two years taught us.
February 2024The first website
Online, with real photos of the town.
The first goal was simple: make the restaurant and rooms known and get them booked. Photos of the dishes and rooms, the Lombard fortress, guest reviews and buttons to message or call in every section.
WordPress with Elementor
Bookings via WhatsApp, phone or email
A page for each room, with video
English and German through machine translation
localefoodandrooms.it
October 2026The redesign
Rebuilt from scratch, without losing anything.
Same photos, same addresses, same WhatsApp: everything that worked has stayed. Around it there’s a new, faster website with the menu, online booking and three languages written properly.
Static Astro website, no database
Online booking for a table or a room
Menu with prices and filters, also as a PDF
Real pages in Italian, English and German
localefoodandrooms.it
A good first website that had grown too small.
Booking only by message or phone
Machine translation, no pages in English or German
Performance 62 on desktop and 48 on mobile
No restaurant structured data
Photos in JPG and PNG
Opening hours on one line in the footer
The 2024 website was built to get bookings, and it did: a green WhatsApp button and a “Call us” in every section. In two and a half years, though, LocAle grew, with fish and truffle on the menu, the Lounge Bar on the square and the terrace over the hills. The website stayed the same: booking always meant messaging or calling, and the opening hours were a single line in the footer.
Underneath were WordPress, Elementor and a multipurpose theme: a lot of code for a site of a few pages, and you could feel it on a phone. Translations were done on the fly by a plugin, so for Google LocAle existed only in Italian, even though some of its guests come from abroad.
localefoodandrooms.it
The 2024 website: every section led to WhatsApp or the phone. It worked, but booking always meant messaging or calling.
The goalA website that makes you want to sit down at the table straight from your phone, that lets you book without calling and that truly speaks Italian, English and German, without losing what worked: the real photos, WhatsApp and the reviews.
Drag and see the difference.
localefoodandrooms.it
Old siteNew site‹ ›
Home
Before, a centred title over a photo of a room and two green buttons. Now the terrace over the hills, an “open/closed” badge updated to the hour and the language always within reach.
Room
La Rocca had a carousel and a long text. Now it opens with a full-screen photo, then the amenities at a glance, the video and the gallery.
Contact
Address, phone numbers and hours on one card, the form next to it, a map that loads only if you ask for it, and the FAQ right below.
Navigation
The menu was a list on a grey background. Now it opens full screen with a photo of the square, opening hours, contacts, social links and the language switch.
Drag the handle or use the arrow keys.
For the hungry and for those looking for a room.
01 · The online menu
The menu, before you even sit down.
The menu is a page of the website: dishes, prices and cover charge, grouped by course. Fancy fish or truffle? One tap filters it; those who prefer paper download the PDF.
19 dishes in 6 courses, each with its price
Sea, Land and Truffle filters, easy to use on a phone too
Notes on allergens and raw fish, as the law requires
localefoodandrooms.it
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02 · Online booking
A table or a room, in the same form.
Before, you could only message or call. Now you choose what to book and the form adapts: date, time and guests for a table; arrival, nights and guests for a room. WhatsApp and phone stay right next to it, for those who prefer them.
Different fields for a table and a room, no pointless questions
“Book” always visible at the top of every page
WhatsApp and phone next to the form, for quick requests
A table→date, time, guests→request sent
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03 · Three real languages
Italian, English and German, page by page.
Instead of machine translation there are translated pages, each with its own address under /en/ and /de/. Copy, menu, opening hours and even the “open/closed” badge speak the reader’s language, and Google knows which version to show.
30 pages, 10 per language, linked to each other with hreflang
Switching language keeps you on the same page
Titles and descriptions for Google written in each language
localefoodandrooms.it
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04 · The rooms
Two rooms, presented like a hotel.
La Rocca and La Pieve each have their own page: a large photo, amenities at a glance, video and gallery. You book straight from the page and move to the other room without going back.
10 clear amenities, from the private bathroom to pets welcome
Breakfast, half board or full board
Room video and photo gallery
localefoodandrooms.it
9:41
05 · Designed for the phone
Everything within thumb’s reach.
People looking for dinner in Pietralunga often search on their phone, sometimes already in the car. That’s why WhatsApp is always at the bottom right, the menu opens full screen with hours and phone number, and reviews slide by one at a time.
WhatsApp with the message already written
Hours and “open/closed” badge in the menu and footer
Guests’ Google reviews, with a link to leave one
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The small things that make the difference.
Details nobody notices until they’re missing. We took care of each one, in all three languages.
Open or closed, right now
A badge works out from the opening hours whether the place is open and when it reopens, in English and German too.
WhatsApp with the text ready
The message already starts with “I’d like to book for…”: just finish it.
Frequently asked questions
Parking, lunch, gluten-free, pets, how to get there: 8 answers before anyone has to call.
Map on request
Google Maps loads only on click: no third-party cookies and a lighter page.
Menu as a PDF
For anyone who wants to print it or send it to whoever is coming to dinner.
Respectful cookies
Analytics only with consent, “Reject” and “Accept” given equal weight, no advertising.
Useful analytics
GA4 through Tag Manager counts visits and contacts, only for people who accepted.
A welcome with the logo
On the first visit the logo appears for a moment; it doesn’t repeat until the next visit.
2024 e 2026, point by point.
AreaOld siteNew site
PlatformWordPress with Elementor and a multipurpose themeStatic Astro website, a single JavaScript file
SpeedPerformance 62 on desktop and 48 on mobile, LCP 2.7 s on mobilePerformance 98 and 97, LCP 0.4 s on desktop and 1.2 s on mobile
WeightMobile home page of 1.2 MB, 45 requestsMobile home page of 538 KB, 21 requests
LanguagesMachine translation through a pluginReal pages in Italian, English and German
BookingsWhatsApp, phone or a generic formForm for a table or a room, plus WhatsApp and phone
MenuDish photos on the home pageA page with courses, prices, filters and PDF
HoursOne line in the footerFull, seasonal opening hours, with an open/closed badge
ImagesJPG and PNGWebP in several sizes, loaded when needed
Data for GoogleOnly generic page dataRestaurant and B&B with hours, address and a “Book” action
StyleTheme layout, bright green buttonsThe restaurant’s palette: cream, brown and gold
Found on Google in three languages.
20241language seen by Google: Italian
20263languages, each with its own indexable pages
The redesign was also a chance to be found more easily. The main addresses stayed the same, the new pages were added alongside, and each language has its own version that Google can show to people searching in English or German.
01
Same addresses
Rooms and contact stay where Google knew them: no rankings to rebuild.
02
Linked languages
30 pages in the sitemap, each linked to its translations with hreflang.
03
Structured data
Restaurant and B&B with address, coordinates, opening hours and a booking action.
04
One title per page
Every page has its own title and description, such as “Restaurant in Pietralunga: truffle, fish and terrace”.
30pages in the sitemap
8time slots Google can read
100Lighthouse SEO score
localefoodandrooms.it
The FAQ answers what people search for on Google: where to park, when lunch is served, how far it is from Gubbio or Perugia.
At launch, in numbers.
98Desktop performance
97Mobile performance
100Accessibility
100Best practices
100SEO
Lighthouse, 8 November 2026: best values measured on the home, restaurant and La Rocca room pages, three runs per page.
Quality checked
Accessibility, best practices and SEO at 100 on every page measured
Fewer calls for the usual questions: hours, parking and menu are online.
Booking requests that already include date, time and number of guests.
A website that welcomes foreign guests too, in their own language.
What we will measure
The new website has been live since 20 October 2026. Over the coming months we’ll update this case study with requests from the form, WhatsApp contacts and visits from abroad.
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Our roleFirst website in 2024 and redesign in 2026: planning, design, development, copy in three languages, SEO and launch, with the same point of contact from start to finish.
Architecture
Base
Static Astro with Tailwind CSS: the server delivers ready-made pages, with no database.
Languages
Three versions generated from the same components, with /en/ and /de/ addresses and hreflang.
Forms
Booking and contact requests sent to an endpoint on the server, excluded from indexing.
Speed
Images
WebP in several sizes: the first with high priority, the rest lazy-loaded.
Fonts
Marcellus and Lato served from the site and preloaded.
JavaScript
A single file for the whole site, with smooth scrolling by Lenis.
Data and privacy
Analytics
GA4 through Google Tag Manager, active only after consent.
Cookies
Reject, Accept and Customise; preferences can be reopened at any time.
Structured data
Restaurant, BedAndBreakfast, opening hours, coordinates and ReserveAction.
Server
Hosting
Hostinger with LiteSpeed and HTTP/3.
Security
HSTS, X-Frame-Options, nosniff and Permissions-Policy.
The 2024 website loaded a theme, a page builder and plugins even to show a handful of pages. The 2026 one is static HTML: less to load, less to update, less that can break.
The screenshots of the 2024 website were taken on 20 October 2026, shortly before the redesign went live. Those of the new website are from 8 November 2026; the cookie banner is hidden only in the images, and the “open/closed” badge reflects the time of capture. The old website’s figures were measured before the rebuild, the new one’s with Lighthouse on 8 November 2026.
